Hunting in the Selkirks. 143 



while in my employ ; and the white man stood loyally by 

 his agreement. AmmaTs people, just before I engaged 

 him, had been visited by their brethren, the Upper Koote- 

 nais, and in a series of gambling matches had lost about 

 all their belongings. 



Ammal himself was one of the Lower Kootenais ; I had 

 hired him for the trip, as the Indians west of the Rockies, 

 unlike their kinsman of the plains, often prove hard and 

 willing workers. His knowledge of English was almost 

 nil ; and our very scanty conversation was carried on in 

 the Chinook jargon, universally employed between the 

 mountains and the Pacific. Apparently he had three 

 names : for he assured us that his " Boston " (i. <?., Ameri- 

 can) name was Ammal ; his " Siwash " (i. e.> Indian) name 

 was Appak ; and that the priest called him Abel for 

 the Lower Kootenais are nominally Catholics. Whatever 

 his name he was a good Indian, as Indians go. I often 

 tried to talk with him about game and hunting, but we 

 understood each other too little to exchange more than 

 the most rudimentary ideas. His face brightened one 

 night when I happened to tell him of my baby boys at 

 home ; he must have been an affectionate father in his 

 way, this dark Ammal, for he at once proceeded to tell 

 me about his own papoose, who had also seen one snow, 

 and to describe how the little fellow was old enough to 

 take one step and then fall down. But he never displayed 

 so much vivacity as on one occasion when the white 

 hunter happened to relate to him a rather gruesome feat 

 of one of their mutual acquaintances, an Upper Kootenai 

 Indian named Three Coyotes. The latter was a quarrel- 



